We know straightaway that "Melancholia's" characters are doomed. A sensually ravishing prologue set to the Love/Death theme from Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde" puts the stars in scenes of eerie peril before we've even met their characters. The cataclysmic final shot of this prelude shows another planet colliding with Earth. Let no one say they didn't know what to expect.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Melancholia movie video clip
We know straightaway that "Melancholia's" characters are doomed. A sensually ravishing prologue set to the Love/Death theme from Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde" puts the stars in scenes of eerie peril before we've even met their characters. The cataclysmic final shot of this prelude shows another planet colliding with Earth. Let no one say they didn't know what to expect.
Friday, December 21, 2012
melancholia movie cast and crew
Kirsten Dunst
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Alexander Skarsgård
Brady Corbet
Cameron Spurr
Charlotte Rampling
Jesper Christensen
John Hurt
Stellan Skarsgård
Udo Kier
Kiefer Sutherland
James Cagnard
Deborah Fronko
| Directed by Lars von Trier | |||
melancholia movie overview
Some of you may recall the name Lars von Trier. It was he who merely two years ago directed the worst film of 2009, Antichrist, an abhorrent experience best forgotten. This year, he returns with something completely different, a strange and unusual film that encompasses a marriage falling apart on the same day as the wedding as well as the end of the world. You would think that material like this would make for a fascinating film, but unfortunately that doesn’t end up being the case.
Explaining the plot to the film is a little difficult, but I’ll do my best. It’s split into two halves, the first of which concentrates on Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Michael (Alexander Skarsgard) at their wedding reception. All of their friends and family are there including Justine’s sister, Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourgh), her father (John Hurt), mother (Charlotte Rampling), boss (Stellan Skarsgard), as well as Claire’s husband, John (Kiefer Sutherland). Throughout the reception, we slowly see that something is not quite right with Justine. She appears to go through a quiet, emotional breakdown which continually disrupts the party. Eventually it comes to seem like she regrets her decision to get married.
The second half of the film focuses on Claire and John. After Justine’s strange breakdown, she comes to live with her sister. Meanwhile, John, an astronomer/scientist of sorts, is studying a planet that has been hiding behind the sun and is now set to pass by Earth. Claire worries that the planet, known as Melancholia, will strike Earth, but John continues to assure her that it won’t. The rest of the film deals with them getting ready to witness the planet’s passing.
The main reason that the plot is a little difficult to summarize is because, quite simply, there wasn’t really any plot to the film. Of course, this is not always a bad thing, but in order for a film not to have any plot, it has to have something else to compensate for it, something that will keep the audience engaged for the runtime of the film, but Von Trier never gets around to presenting anything that begins to make up for it.
This detrimental lack of plot also leads to another serious problem for the film. Since there’s nothing there to engage the audience, the pacing begins to suffer quite heavily as we wait for something interesting to happen or for the characters to develop further, which is something else that we end up waiting a long time for, but to no avail.
It was a rather strange decision to break the film up into two halves as the two don’t really have much to do with each other, other than sharing a few of the same characters. Just when we’re supposed to be engaged with Dunst’s character, she is suddenly sidelined in favor of her sister and her sister’s husband. Their characters are not particularly interesting either because all they seem interested in is Melancholia, the planet that is supposed to pass by Earth.
Melancholia was shown at Cannes earlier this year where Kirsten Dunst took home Best Actress, which was an odd choice since her character doesn’t really do very much throughout the film except for a bit of moping followed by a small breakdown. It’s not a bad performance though as it gets the job done, but it’s not one that I would go waving awards at. Then again, it was also at Cannes where Gainsbourgh ended up getting Best Actress for her terrible performance in Antichrist. At least this jury did a little better.
Aside from Dunst, we get a very strange performance from Kiefer Sutherland as Claire’s husband. His character seems to be mad throughout the entire movie, first at his ex-wife and Justine at the wedding reception, then at Justine again when she comes to live with him and Claire. There are also small, but interesting, turns from excellent actors John Hurt and Stellan Skarsgard. They only get a small handful of scenes, but they’re always a delight to see.
Explaining the plot to the film is a little difficult, but I’ll do my best. It’s split into two halves, the first of which concentrates on Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Michael (Alexander Skarsgard) at their wedding reception. All of their friends and family are there including Justine’s sister, Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourgh), her father (John Hurt), mother (Charlotte Rampling), boss (Stellan Skarsgard), as well as Claire’s husband, John (Kiefer Sutherland). Throughout the reception, we slowly see that something is not quite right with Justine. She appears to go through a quiet, emotional breakdown which continually disrupts the party. Eventually it comes to seem like she regrets her decision to get married.
The second half of the film focuses on Claire and John. After Justine’s strange breakdown, she comes to live with her sister. Meanwhile, John, an astronomer/scientist of sorts, is studying a planet that has been hiding behind the sun and is now set to pass by Earth. Claire worries that the planet, known as Melancholia, will strike Earth, but John continues to assure her that it won’t. The rest of the film deals with them getting ready to witness the planet’s passing.
The main reason that the plot is a little difficult to summarize is because, quite simply, there wasn’t really any plot to the film. Of course, this is not always a bad thing, but in order for a film not to have any plot, it has to have something else to compensate for it, something that will keep the audience engaged for the runtime of the film, but Von Trier never gets around to presenting anything that begins to make up for it.
This detrimental lack of plot also leads to another serious problem for the film. Since there’s nothing there to engage the audience, the pacing begins to suffer quite heavily as we wait for something interesting to happen or for the characters to develop further, which is something else that we end up waiting a long time for, but to no avail.
It was a rather strange decision to break the film up into two halves as the two don’t really have much to do with each other, other than sharing a few of the same characters. Just when we’re supposed to be engaged with Dunst’s character, she is suddenly sidelined in favor of her sister and her sister’s husband. Their characters are not particularly interesting either because all they seem interested in is Melancholia, the planet that is supposed to pass by Earth.
Melancholia was shown at Cannes earlier this year where Kirsten Dunst took home Best Actress, which was an odd choice since her character doesn’t really do very much throughout the film except for a bit of moping followed by a small breakdown. It’s not a bad performance though as it gets the job done, but it’s not one that I would go waving awards at. Then again, it was also at Cannes where Gainsbourgh ended up getting Best Actress for her terrible performance in Antichrist. At least this jury did a little better.
Aside from Dunst, we get a very strange performance from Kiefer Sutherland as Claire’s husband. His character seems to be mad throughout the entire movie, first at his ex-wife and Justine at the wedding reception, then at Justine again when she comes to live with him and Claire. There are also small, but interesting, turns from excellent actors John Hurt and Stellan Skarsgard. They only get a small handful of scenes, but they’re always a delight to see.
melancholia movie review
If you can't wait for your winter depression to kick in, race to "Melancholia," the latest avalanche of artistic angst from Lars von Trier. This one makes "Schindler's List" look like "High School Musical."
I say this not to mock, but in a tone of thunderstruck awe. No moviemaker I know creates psychodramas so hard to watch and difficult to forget. If we esteem Sylvia Plath, Vincent van Gogh and Samuel Beckett, Von Trier deserves our attention, too. His work is a reminder that whenever you think things can't get worse, they can. They can get much, much worse.
We know straightaway that "Melancholia's" characters are doomed. A sensually ravishing prologue set to the Love/Death theme from Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde" puts the stars in scenes of eerie peril before we've even met their characters. The cataclysmic final shot of this prelude shows another planet colliding with Earth. Let no one say they didn't know what to expect.
The story follows Justine (Kirsten Dunst), a new bride with deep emotional problems, Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg), her nurturing sister, and John (Kiefer Sutherland), Claire's wealthy, highly rational husband, who is hosting Justine's lavish wedding.The facade of order cracks as Justine sabotages the ceremony, sensing that disaster is about to render such pledges meaningless. While Claire tends to Justine, John ponders the new planet in the heavens. Scientists dub it Melancholia and proclaim that it will be a spectacular fly-by. Each character must come to grips with the mounting evidence that the scientists are wrong.
Dunst displays new maturity in her role. Early on, she's stuck in a limousine that is too long to make a sharp turn in the road. Her delight in the comical mishap looks genuine. A few scenes later the light in her eyes goes out like a candle. When she says, "I'm trying, I'm really trying" to regain her equilibrium, you sense her emotional undertow. Sutherland's role is a compelling portrait of a stuffed shirt deflating in fear. Gainsbourg gives Claire pathos and gravity.
The supporting cast is top-rank, including Stellan and Alexander Skarsgård, John Hurt, Charlotte Rampling, and German character actor Udo Kier contributing vital comic relief as a high-strung wedding planner. The planet-crushing impact with Melancholia wipes them all away, an image of Armageddon that brilliantly represents devastating depression. This is the way the world ends, both with a bang and a whimper.
I say this not to mock, but in a tone of thunderstruck awe. No moviemaker I know creates psychodramas so hard to watch and difficult to forget. If we esteem Sylvia Plath, Vincent van Gogh and Samuel Beckett, Von Trier deserves our attention, too. His work is a reminder that whenever you think things can't get worse, they can. They can get much, much worse.
We know straightaway that "Melancholia's" characters are doomed. A sensually ravishing prologue set to the Love/Death theme from Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde" puts the stars in scenes of eerie peril before we've even met their characters. The cataclysmic final shot of this prelude shows another planet colliding with Earth. Let no one say they didn't know what to expect.
The story follows Justine (Kirsten Dunst), a new bride with deep emotional problems, Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg), her nurturing sister, and John (Kiefer Sutherland), Claire's wealthy, highly rational husband, who is hosting Justine's lavish wedding.The facade of order cracks as Justine sabotages the ceremony, sensing that disaster is about to render such pledges meaningless. While Claire tends to Justine, John ponders the new planet in the heavens. Scientists dub it Melancholia and proclaim that it will be a spectacular fly-by. Each character must come to grips with the mounting evidence that the scientists are wrong.
Dunst displays new maturity in her role. Early on, she's stuck in a limousine that is too long to make a sharp turn in the road. Her delight in the comical mishap looks genuine. A few scenes later the light in her eyes goes out like a candle. When she says, "I'm trying, I'm really trying" to regain her equilibrium, you sense her emotional undertow. Sutherland's role is a compelling portrait of a stuffed shirt deflating in fear. Gainsbourg gives Claire pathos and gravity.
The supporting cast is top-rank, including Stellan and Alexander Skarsgård, John Hurt, Charlotte Rampling, and German character actor Udo Kier contributing vital comic relief as a high-strung wedding planner. The planet-crushing impact with Melancholia wipes them all away, an image of Armageddon that brilliantly represents devastating depression. This is the way the world ends, both with a bang and a whimper.
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